STORY: "At around 4:30 a.m. (0330GMT) Spanish coast guards alerted us about a boat that was rescued with 45 people, including 10 of them that we had to transfer to different health centres on the island of Lanzarote, and one person has died," Red Cross official Jose Antonio Rodriguez told Reuters.

Later in the morning, a coast guard vessel rescued 64 sub-Saharan migrants, 35 men, 24 women and five minors, while they were traveling 9.3 km south of Gran Canaria island, Spanish coast guards said.

Every year, thousands of people leave north Africa to make the perilous journey to Europe in search for a better life.

A total of 566 migrants crossed by boat to the Canary Islands in the month of January, interior ministry data showed. Last year, 15,682 migrants arrived in the Canary Islands, 29.7% fewer than in 2021.